I previously blogged the lists of the Top 10 law schools in eleven categories posted on Princeton Review's web site in connection with its publication of the 2011 edition of Best 172 Law Schools (with the University of Cincinnati College of Law again on the cover). The rankings are the result of Princeton Review's survey of 18,000 students at the 172 law schools, along with school statistics provided by administrators.

I have extracted from the individual profiles of the 172 law schools all of the available data to rank the schools in six categories. I will report each day on one of the ranking categories.

Academic Experience Rating: The quality of the learning environment, on a scale of 60 to 99. The rating incorporates the Admissions Selectivity Rating and the average responses of law students at the school to several questions on our law student survey. In addition to the Admissions Selectivity Rating, factors considered include how students rate the quality of teaching and the accessibility of their professors, the school's research resources, the range of available courses, the balance of legal theory and practical lawyering skills stressed in the curriculum, the tolerance for diverse opinions in the classroom, and how intellectually challenging the course work is.

Here are the law schools with the best and worst academic experience rating:

School

Score

School

Score

1

Duke

99

145

Albany

70

Stanford

99

North Dakota

70

Virginia

99

Ohio Northern

70

4

Chicago

98

Syracuse

70

Michigan

98

Touro

70

Northwestern

98

150

District of Columbia

69

7

Boston University

97

John Marshall

69

NYU

97

Kentucky

69

UCLA

97

Mississippi College

69

10

Georgetown

96

West Virginia

69

Geo. Washington

96

155

Maine

68

Vanderbilt

96

Missouri-KC

68

13

Boston College

95

Wyoming

68

Pennsylvania

95

158

Idaho

67

UC-Berkeley

95

Nova

67

16

BYU

94

Widener-Harrisburg

67

Loyola-L.A.

94

161

Capital

66

Pepperdine

94

Dayton

66

Texas

94

163

Loyola-New Orleans

65

20

Harvard

93

164

Phoenix

64

UC-Hastings

93

165

Cornell

63

22

Emory

92

N. Illinois

63

Florida

92

Oklahoma City

63

Fordham

92

168

South Dakota

62

25

Chapman

91

Southern

62

Columbia

91

St. Mary’s

62

Georgia

91

171

Appalachian

61

Richmond

91

172

N.C. Central

60

Unfortunately, the Princeton Review did not release the response rate per school, so it is impossible to determine how the rankings are affected by each school's representation among the respondents.